Baltimore City Council
File #: 14-0177R    Version: 0 Name: Complete Education in Baltimore City Public Schools
Type: City Council Resolution Status: Failed - End of Term
File created: 6/16/2014 In control: Education and Youth Committee
On agenda: Final action: 12/5/2016
Enactment #:
Title: Complete Education in Baltimore City Public Schools FOR the purpose of requesting that Baltimore City Public Schools report to the City Council on whether a complete education is being provided to students in City public schools, the availability of arts education and physical education in our schools, and the extent to which students have access to vigorous and broad educational opportunities as part of their core curriculum.
Sponsors: President Young, Brandon M. Scott, Sharon Green Middleton, Carl Stokes, Warren Branch, Rochelle Spector, Edward Reisinger, William H. Cole, IV, Nick Mosby, Bill Henry, Helen L. Holton, Mary Pat Clarke, Robert Curran
Indexes: Education, Public Schools, Resolution
Attachments: 1. 14-0177R - 1st. Reader.pdf, 2. Schools - 14-0177R.pdf
* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
      INTRODUCTORY*
 
      CITY OF BALTIMORE
      COUNCIL BILL           R
      (Resolution)
                                                                                                                                                           
Introduced by: President Young
                                                                                                                                                           
 
 
      A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
 
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Complete Education in Baltimore City Public Schools
 
FOR the purpose of requesting that Baltimore City Public Schools report to the City Council on whether a complete education is being provided to students in City public schools, the availability of arts education and physical education in our schools, and the extent to which students have access to vigorous and broad educational opportunities as part of their core curriculum.
body
Recitals
  
   A focus on basic education that leaves arts education and physical education aside ignores the competencies demanded by the complex, modern world in which  Baltimore City Public Schools students are expected to thrive.  This modern world requires leaders that are innovative, creative, and have received a strong, broad, complete education from a young age.
 
  An Afro article dated May 1, 2014 quoted former assistant state superintendent Richard Deasy as explaining that "The arts?instill capacities that are broadly transferable to other areas of life.  For example, imagination, creativity, and innovation are all central to entrepreneurship and thus economic vibrancy."  As recently as April 2014, advocates told the Baltimore Sun that "the arts - which include music, art, theater and dance - have fallen to the bottom of the district's budgets and priority lists, leaving many children with sparse access to such classes".
 
  A Baltimore City Health Department report from 2013 noted 26 percent of Baltimore City's children are obese and that the youngest children (preK and Kindergarten aged children) are experiencing the highest rates of obesity.  Only 68 percent of students reported participating in sports or physical activity at least three times a week.  Additionally, the lack of safe and accessible spaces for physical education in City schools is a noted problem.
 
  A limited and incomplete curriculum is a disservice to the student population of the City of Baltimore.  Failing to provide a complete education, including an array of arts education and physical education opportunities, leaves our students unprepared to thrive after graduation.
 
 
  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the Council requests that representatives from Baltimore City Public Schools report to it on whether a complete education is being provided to students in City public schools, the availability of arts education and physical education in our schools, and the extent to which students have access to vigorous and broad educational opportunities as part of their core curriculum.
 
   AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
 
 
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